Five hostages killed at Jewish centre, over 500 freed, death toll crosses 150, ISI chief to visit India to help probeAp, Afp, Pti, Mumbai
MUMBAI MAYHEM: An Indian National Security Guard (NSG) commando abseils from a helicopter onto the rooftop of Nariman House at Colaba Market in Mumbai yesterday while NSG commandos open fire at terrorists holed up in the Nariman House from an adjoining building. Photo: AFP
Commandos who stormed the Mumbai headquarters of an ultra-orthodox Jewish group found the bodies of five hostages inside as a fresh battle raged at the luxury Taj Mahal hotel and other Indian forces ended a siege at another five-star hotel.
More than 150 people have been killed since gunmen attacked 10 sites across India's financial capital starting Wednesday night, including 22 foreigners two of them Americans, officials said.
The dead include three Germans, and one person each from Japan, Canada, Britain and Australia. The nationalities of other victims were not known.
The injured include five from Britain, three Germans, two Americans, two from Oman and one each from Norway, Spain, Canada, Finland, Philippines, Australia, Italy and China. Two more were unknown.
Indian commandos emerged from a besieged Jewish centre with rifles raised in an apparent sign of victory after a daylong siege that saw a team rappel from helicopters and a series of explosions and fire rock the building and blow gaping holes in the wall. The fighting comes two days after a chain of militant attacks across India's financial centre that began Wednesday night.
Indian news reports say five hostages and two gunmen were killed in the Mumbai headquarters of an ultra-orthodox Jewish group. In Jerusalem, the Israeli rescue service confirmed the deaths at the centre.
A spokeswoman with the Synchronicity Foundation in Virginia said Friday that Alan Scherr and his 13-year-old daughter were killed while they were in a cafe in Mumbai.By Friday evening, at least nine gunmen had been killed, one had been arrested and as many as six were still in the Taj Mahal, said R. Patil, a top official in Maharashtra state, where Mumbai is the capital. He said more than 150 people had been killed and 370 injured.
After hours of intermittent gunfire and explosions at the elegant Taj Mahal hotel Friday, the battle heated up at dusk when Indian forces began launching grenades at the hotel, where at least one militant was believed to be holed up inside a ballroom, officials said.
Commandos had killed the two last gunmen inside the nearby Oberoi earlier in the day.
"The hotel is under our control," JK Dutt, director general of India's elite National Security Guard commando unit, told reporters, adding that 24 bodies had been found. Dozens of people including a man clutching a baby had been evacuated from Oberoi earlier Friday.
The airborne assault on the center run by the ultra-orthodox Jewish outreach group Chabad Lubavitch was punctuated by gunshots and explosions and exchanges of fire as forces cleared it floor by floor, according to an Associated Press reporter at the scene.
Nearly 12 hours after the battle began, Indian troops left the building to cheers from the crowd, but the fate of the two to three hostages believed to be inside was unclear, said Mumbai Police Chief Hassan Ghaffoor. Ghaffoor said "the operation was ongoing" but in its "final stage."
Israel's ambassador to India, Mark Sofer, said they believed there were up to nine hostages inside. Sofer denied reports that Israeli commandos were taking part in the operation.
Moshe Holtzberg, a 2-year-old who was smuggled out of the center by an employee, is now with his grandparents. His grandfather told Israel Radio on Friday that he had no news of Moshe's parents.
Security officials said their operations were almost over.
"It's just a matter of a few hours that we'll be able to wrap up things," Lt Gen N Thamburaj told reporters Friday morning.
Late Thursday, after about 400 people had been brought out of the Taj hotel, officials said it had been cleared of gunmen. Indian police said on Friday that 148 hostages were evacuated from Oberoi Hotel.
The group rescued from the Oberoi, many holding passports, included at least two Americans, a Briton, two Japanese nationals and several Indians. Some carried luggage with Canadian flags. One man in a chef's uniform was holding a small baby. About 20 airline crew members were freed, including staff from Lufthansa and Air France.
"I'm going home, I'm going to see my wife," said Mark Abell, with a huge smile on his face after emerging from the hotel.
Abell, from Britain, had locked himself in his room during the siege. "These people here have been fantastic, the Indian authorities, the hotel staff. I think they are a great advertisement for their country," he said as security officials pulled him away.
The well-coordinated strikes by small bands of gunmen starting Wednesday night left the city shell-shocked.
But Friday morning, army commanders said that while three gunmen had been killed, two to three more were still inside with about 15 civilians.
A few hours after that, Thamburaj, the security official, said at least one gunman was still alive inside the hotel and had cut of electricity on the floor where he was hiding. Shortly after that announcement, another round of explosions and gunfire were heard coming from the hotel.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh blamed "external forces" for the violence a phrase sometimes used to refer to Pakistani militants, whom Indian authorities often blame for attacks.
On Friday, India's foreign minister ratcheted up the accusations over the attacks.
"According to preliminary information, some elements in Pakistan are responsible for Mumbai terror attacks," Pranab Mukherjee told reporters in the western city of Jodhpur.
"Proof cannot be disclosed at this time," he said, adding that Pakistan had assured New Delhi it would not allow its territory to be used for attacks against India. India has long accused Islamabad of allowing militant Muslim groups, particularly those fighting in the disputed Himalayan region of Kashmir, to train and take shelter in Pakistan. Mukherjee's carefully phrased comments appeared to indicate he was accusing Pakistan-based groups of staging the attack, and not Pakistan itself.
Islamabad has long denied those accusations.
Pakistan Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani yesterday accepted a request from his Indian counterpart Manmohan Singh to send the ISI chief to India for sharing of information related to the terrorist attack in Mumbai.
Gilani pledged in a Friday telephone call to his Indian counterpart Manmohan Singh that he would send the chief of the country's powerful intelligence service to India to help investigate the attacks.
Gilani also reminded Singh his country has been a victim of terrorism, while his defence minister told AFP he was "positive" that Pakistan had no involvement in Wednesday's attacks.
The Prime Minster's spokesman Zahid Bashir said Singh had made a request to Gilani, asking him to send the ISI chief to India to "cooperate in the investigation of the Mumbai attacks and for sharing certain information".
Bashir told PTI, "The Pakistani Prime Minister accepted this offer. The two sides will work out modalities for the visit of the Inter Services Intelligence chief which is expected to take place soon." Lt Gen Ahmed Shuja Pasha was recently appointed chief of the ISI by Pakistan Army chief General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani.
A US investigative team was heading to Mumbai, a State Department official said Thursday evening, speaking on condition of anonymity because the US and Indian governments were still working out final details.